This week I decided that I would subject myself to another 3 months of torture when I started “Day 1” of my third round with P90x. For those of you not familiar, P90x is a complete fitness program designed around various workout regimens and an eating program. The goal is nothing short of total fitness in 90 days. One of the reasons this program has been so successful is that it tells you exactly what to do each day. This is my kind of program because I know that as long as I show up every day and work, I’ll see the results.
I thought it would be fun to list some of the personal finance tricks and routines I have learned over the years. Improving your finances will certainly help you in other areas of your life as well.
Today, I am in the best financial shape of my life despite the economy and the continuous bad news. Much of this is from what I have learned from others and by making some crucial decisions several years ago like: eliminating debt, saving as much money as I can, learning to take advantage of the free resources in my community and not listening to the mainstream media. In fact, can’t tell you the last time I had cable playing in my house. It’s not like I have something against cable, I just don’t miss it.
Here are 10 things that have worked for me. Each one won’t work for you and that’s okay. Find what works and adopt it. The goal is to develop lifelong habits that will result in a life of peace of mind and having the ability to make choices that are supportive of your values. Share your comments and suggestions below.
1. Play Personal CEO Once Per Week
For me every Wednesday at around 10PM, I fire up my I pad, log into my Mint account and see what bills need to be paid. I make sure there aren’t any outstanding or inaccurate charges on my accounts. And, if there are I find out why and resolve it. I also check my savings goals to see where I am tracking for the year.
The Big Lesson here is to be the aggressor. Stay on toes and stay in control of your finances. Don’t be passive here and get stuck paying more “stupid tax” in the form of late fees, excess interest and overdraft charges because you’re too busy. Knowing you have a specific day set aside to handle financial matters will allow you to relax and not worry as much because you know in the back of your mind, you are handling this stuff once per week. Mine day is Wednesday at 9PM. When is yours?
2. Use Cash and Feel The Pain!
I’ve blogged about this before and it always amazes me how much more painful it is to hand over cash versus a piece of plastic. So, instead of using your Mr. Master Card and Ms. Visa, try paying cash for all non-bill paying spending activities like eating out, movies andgas. This will cause you to think twice before spending because we never like to give away our cash.
3. Get Rid of Cable
I admit, I still watch TV once in a while. The difference is that I choose what I want to watch like an instructional DVD, a documentary, sporting event or an occasional movie for entertainment. This as opposed to sitting on the couch channel surfing every night will save you around $50-$100 per month.
4. Exercise At Home
If you love the gym, I can’t blame you. If you learn how to exercise at home, you can stay in shape and save about $30-$50 per month in gym membership fees.
5. Use Rewards Checking Accounts
Not only can you earn 3%-4% interest (no that is not a typo) most of the online banks provide access to excellent budgeting software programs available for free.
6. Get Your Financial House In Order
I mentioned earlier that I use Mint.com to track all of my accounts and bills online. This allows me to see everything in one view via Mint’s dashboard. The other really cool thing about Mint is that you can have personal alerts set up on specific accounts that alert you via email say like whenever there is more than a $300 transaction. Can you say “peace of mind?!”
7. Plan a Money Free Weekend
Here is an excellent article from Trent at The Simple Dollar: 100 Things To Do During A Money Free Weekend
8. Use The Envelop System
I have to be honest here because I’ve never personally tried out this tip, but I have heard it works great. It ties in with using cash for spending but in addition, you use an envelope to divide your spending into categories for things like groceries, gas and miscellaneous spending. Once the money budged to one category is gone, that’s it. You have to wait for the next pay period to roll around.
9. Get Out Of Debt
Need I say more? Here is a link to a series of posts I wrote about how to get out of debt.
10. Give Back
One of the reasons so many people “struggle” is because they see money as a one way street. It is true that when you give back to others, the doors of endless opportunities open up for you. This will add real meaning and happiness to your life.
Understand the difference between developing the habits that produce the results you want versus looking for “an answer.” Work on yourself and the results will come.
And, you will need discipline to see results.
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